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3.30.2013

I promised I'd get back on this, and I'm picking up where I last was. I'm trying my best to answer catch up questions as though I have not been to Korea. Until of course I catch up.

Day 36: What do you think about your friends?

What friends? Jokes. My friends are awesome. All so different from each other so I never know how they'd get along if and when they meet. But usually, and I think I've mentioned this before, I usually like one on one time with my friends. I feel so awkward when there are more people cause I feel like I fade in the background. Even if it's just a group of three.

Day 37: Who are you?

Good question. Something I've been asking myself a lot lately. It's too stressful to deal with right now, so I'd put it in the back of my head until I get back from Korea. Unhealthy, yes. But necessary I think if I want to enjoy my exchange.

Day 38: Thoughts on your generation…

Unbelievably sarcastic, underrated, overworked, talented, passionate, a little lost and pissed off at the older generations for fucking everything up and trying to make sheep out of us. Run. On. Sentence.

Day 39: Why you think you've learned more from the good or the bad?

o.O What?

Day 40: What are features you get complimented on a lot? Used to get compliments on my eyebrows all the time. But not so much recently. Why? haha People always asked if I do them and don't believe me when I say no. So proof that I've always had these stellar eyebrows…

I was a super cute kid.

Ok, not really stellar. I actually have never been happy with them cause they are not even and it really bothers me cause it can't simply be fixed with a brush. And I'm so bad at filling them.

Day 41: When was the last time you wrote a letter? To whom?

2011, to my Project Leader. At the end of Katimavik I gave her a letter. Not an easy one writing that. I was such a mess at the end of the program. Tearing up now thinking about it. I miss my KatimaFamily so much.

Day 42: What do you think of your driver's license picture?

I don't have one. 22 and not ashamed. lol Ontario has this new ID for slackers like me who don't get license but don't want to carry their passport around as proper ID. Mine is horrible. No, I will not upload it. Looks like a mug shot, make me look so fat and can't wear glasses for this one either. You will not see me on the street without my glasses so I should be wearing them in all my IDs as well. Makes sense or not?

Day 43: Is it possible to lie without saying a word?

Isn't that along the same lines of lying by omission? If so, then yes.

Day 44: When was the last time you wore a dress?

Stupid question. Who keeps track of such useless things like this?

Day 45: When was the last time you tried something new?

Korean BBQ soon after I arrived back to Toronto. I went with my sister and cousins. Such good food. And so much too. But really, I'm so lazy to cook my own food when I'm out. What am I paying for?

Day 46: What makes you smile?

Tom Hiddleston's smile.

Day 47: What was your last Halloween costume?

I think I was a farmer back in kindergarten, and for Sparks too. I think some of my siblings caused a fuss because we don't celebrate Halloween and they couldn't see why I got to dress up. Thinking back on it, I don't know why either. haha I think it was an early sign that I'm gonna always get my way. Ok not always, but sometimes I do even when I shouldn't.

3.29.2013

Not even worth my time to tell this story, but plans for the night are no longer in motion and I have nothing better to do with my time.

So I was waiting with my friend Daniel after class today to meet one of his friends, and there were some other people from the other class hanging around as well. One of them mentions something about Good Friday, and this next person is like “No, it’s Great Friday.”

Oh? So I’m like, “Well I’ve always known it as Good Friday.”

“Oh really? What’s your religion?”

“I don’t have one.”

And she gets ready to school me. Cause you know, I’m a heathen and can’t possibly know anything about a Christian holiday. Unfortunately, I was brought up in a Christian household and I do know about their holidays. And even if I wasn’t brought up that way, it’s a national holiday in Canada because the country was “founded” by Christians. -__- Move. From. Me.

She wants to put me in my place. Starts to go on about the origins of the name “Great Friday”. Trying to suggest that this is the only name for the holiday, and I honestly just want to box her at this point cause I’m starting to get a bit of an attitude. “Oh cool. Well in Canada it’s called Good Friday. I think in America too.”

Backs down cause she knows she can’t argue with a Canadian about what Canadians call it. “Oh. Where I’m from it’s called Great Friday.”

3.27.2013

Honeymoon period is over. Storming now maybe. But I still love it here. Especially since everything I hear about Canada recently is very negative. I should just stay here. Can I do that?

School's getting more challenging which is good. But I am very thankful I took that intermediate course back in the summer, cause I know how the rules work. But maybe some are too advanced for beginner. Having a little trouble with 아요/어요/해요 rule. Too many exceptions. Knowing Japanese helps too, cause it also has same sentence structure, many words from China and particles. I don't like that we are learning so many grammar rules and useless words though. It wouldn't be so bad if I learned Korean like this in Canada, but I'm not. I don't think learning 아요/어요/해요 rule is more important or basic than learning numbers, how to ask how much something costs, or "I'd like to order ____." It's ok if we know a phrase but not the rules, we are here now and need to use these things right away.

This was supposed to be a busy week, but things keep falling through. Getting very frustrating, and to make things worse my phone sucks. Since I came to Korea, it cannot keep it's charge. So I leave at 8:30 in the morning with 80% life and by 1:00 in the afternoon it's dead. I cannot deal with this. Need to get a new phone ASAP.

I finally finished watching Tennant's first season of Doctor Who. So now I have watched at least a season of all three new doctors. I love nine, still not ready to accept ten and I find eleven annoying. Also, I really didn't like Rose Tyler. Why was she on it for so long? Not so sad to see her go, but shitty way to end eh? Looking forward to catching up with the new series. (In North America a series is the whole show, and a season is what you call a series. So what do you call a series then?) I want to try to watch as much of original series as possible before November.

For a couple of days I could not watch any Doctor Who episodes, so I started to catch up again on The Vampire Diaries and started watching Breaking Bad. Jaw always dropped with these shows. So good.

There's more to update, but I'll leave you with this final thing...

I have officially been accepted in Chonnam National University's Summer Session. I didn't expect not to, but it's always good when things are official. Took me so long to post about KHU. So as soon as I finish my first semester here, I must hop on a train for CNU which is in 광주 (Gwangju). I am very excited to get to live in another part of Korea. Population is much smaller than Seoul.

3.23.2013

I don't actually know the history of Japan Day at KHU, but I won't complain. The only thing I did for the day was go to the Nami Tamaki concert with my class though. I traded in JPop for KPop years ago with the exception of Crystal Kay, so this woman was unknown to me. I didn't mind her. I actually really liked her songs. But her dancers were my favourite part of the show.

This is the poster that was outside of the IIE building. Damn wind messed it up.

Watching some of her music videos before the show started.

Her dancers though…

You can't tell from the pictures, but she has the best knees. Yes, I like knees. Don't judge me.

Anywho, it was a good show. Thanks KHU for making this happen. Still trying to figure out how I've seen a JPop show before a KPop one. haha

The first problem is it that I never had any problems with tampons. All these complaints that I hear people talking about, dryness, discomfort, irritation, blah blah blah… I never had any of it. So switching to cups was a step down. I only switched because of the whole bleached cotton thing. Otherwise I would have been fine with it.

Another problem is these things are so stupid cause you must pay the money for them and then realise that you wasted $50 because the one you got doesn't fit/has the wrong firmness/has an impossible stem to work with. Whatever the problem. Many companies don't give refunds. Even if I got half my money back I wouldn't be so upset. How much money does this poor university student have to shell out before they find a proper cup?

And these companies are all like, “Here's two cups. The first cup is for youngins and the second is for people who've been preggers.” And that’s it. So you'd expect that if you buy the “youngins” size and you are indeed a youngin, it’s gonna fit. But no. You then realise that one company's “youngins” size is another company’s “preggers” size and now you have a cup that doesn't fit right. And then you have other people who say “Oh, I've given birth five times so I'll get the “preggers” size, but really they are super blessed and back down to pre-pregnancy size and so their cup is too big. Or you have youngins saying “Hey, I'm a youngin, I'll get the "youngins" size, but really they have a wide set vag and their cup is too small. Do you see where I'm going here? There’s not enough information, and far too much misinformation, from the companies selling these products. There are websites that have sizing charts, but how exactly am I supposed to measure my vag? Like I'm here complaining, but really I have no idea how to solve this problem myself. It just sucks.

Not many pros…

I don't have to change the thing all the time. Great. I don't to bring any tampons with me throughout the day and change in gross public washrooms.

When it’s in properly, there are no leaks. (Same with tampons)

When they're in properly, I don’t feel a thing. (Again, same with tampons)

（︶︿︶）Not a very impressive list. haha

Problems with the cup…

Before the cup, I had super-painful-stay-in-bed-all-day-for-two-days kind of cramps. Still had them while using the cup, but the last time I used it I didn't have cramps during at all. Instead I had serious cramps after the fact. For about three days. ಠ_ಠ Are you kidding me right now? wtf is that?

Still can't go to the washroom comfortably. There was that one time that I had no problem going to poo. But that's a thing of the past. I always feel like I'm constipated when I have to go. 재미 없어

The first time I put the cup in, everything's perfect, but as soon as I have to change it life's miserable again. Which leads to my next problem…

I still don't know when it's open. I don't know why everything just gets into place so easily the first time and then never again. There's no way for me to stick all my fingers up there to properly adjust the damn thing, but it never feels right once it's been changed. Like it's so obviously in my vag and I can feel it cause it’s either not open properly or it's not sitting right. So annoyed with life.

And the biggest problem? It's so damn messy!! I can't with this. Every time I go to change everything just comes spilling out. No. I don't need to see that and I don't want it all over my hands. I'm not a fucking surgeon.

At the end of the day, I feel like this is all just a money making business. Not about the environment or people's health. And did I mention before how disgusted I am with the sexist advertising with these products. This is supposed to be a forward thinking product right? Then why am I seeing so many flowers, pink and purple on packaging and websites? It's so uncomfortable. Even more uncomfortable, is the lack of gender neutralness. Periods are NOT a women’s thing, they're a uterus thing.

What now?

***My other posts about menstrual cups have gotten a lot of questions, comments and even suggestions, just not in the comment section. Thank you for all of them. If you're not comfortable talking about this in public, feel free to shoot me an email... winter2789@yahoo.ca

3.17.2013

I promised to post pictures of my hair from when I got it
done in February. So here it is…

haha Not really a big big deal. Just a trim. I decided
against a haircut since I got it relaxed and would be fine managing it at this
length in Korea. But first sign of trouble (a lot of regrowth) and I'm getting it cut. lol Even if I
have to do it myself.

Oh, and remember those weekly question posts? I do plan on starting that up again. I've just been so busy, and more recently, sick. Also, some of those questions require a lot of thought. wtf I should have gone over them all before committing myself to it. haha Ok, really I'm just lazy.

I can't remember where we were coming from, but Daphne and I were on our way back to dorm one night and there was this guy by the Crown Concert Hall (literally looks like a crown). He was having a smoke break, but singing between puffs. Opera. All I could think was Wexford. This is where I should be. lol When we started hearing him he was actually finishing. So we clapped, said bravo and I asked him to keep going. But he went inside. Twenty seconds later, when our backs are now to the entrance, we hear him start to sing again and we just stood there and watched this shadow in the night. Who are you? Please marry me. haha Well that was that. He didn't sing for long but when he finished I thanked him in Korean. We laughed to ourselves at the randomness of this as we continued on our way. Pretty sure this happened on a Saturday too. So yeah, definitely Wexford.

3.16.2013

First week here, Daphne and I went to the grocery store with SooIn and our unofficial buddy EunKyung. When we were coming to the end of the shopping trip, they suggested that we get our groceries delivered. Whut?? Delivered. For free. What is this magic? You go shopping for food and w/e else and then pack it all in boxes (also provided) and then fill out a form and wait for it to get to your house. Loves it.

After we finished that, we all came back to our dorm. And Eun divided the receipt for us, cause everything was on one bill so I had to pay back for my stuff and half for things we share. While going through the receipt, Eun noticed that daphne was charged 49,000₩ ($46.45CAD) for a pack of kiwis!! Whaaa!! So SooIn called the store and explained what happened. They apologised and offered to give a refund and gift card/store credit too. SooIn left Daphne with a note to bring back to the store next time we go shopping and they would know what to do. Or so we thought…

We went back last week cause more food was needed, and before we shopped we decided to clear up the kiwi problem. But no luck. No one spoke English and it was pretty intense how the costumer service lady was looking so frantic to figure this thing out. No one could help, in person or on the phone. So we eventually decided to come back with either SooIn or Eun. What a lala. I really need to pick up this language fast.

On to shopping. Bananas. I'm not in Canada anymore. I'm used to picking up 3-5 bananas at any given time and sometimes not always from the same bunch. But in Korea, or maybe just this store (EDIT: It's a Korean thing.), you must buy the whole bunch!! All 15 haha 왜? Did I use that right? So we split it. I don't like this system. What if I was on my own? Can't finish 15 bananas to myself. Anywho, I felt like I made myself look like a picky eater. I wanted fruits but I didn't know which ones, and wasn't a fan of the rices. Produce section seemed smaller than what I'm used to as well. So I just got bananas. (later bought oranges from man on the street.)

Going through the rest of the store was a little traumatic for me. I bought some oatmeal the first time, but I don’t like the texture and wanted other cereal. But of course, most “big kid” cereal has nuts in it. All that's left is the sugar filled stuff for the kids. No thanks. Really my main concern is just to have breakfast foods and some snacks. I didn't know what to do. Felt like I was close to becoming one of those spoiled North Americans who go to other countries demanding all the things they're used to. lol But no, I have more sense than that. I think the biggest issue is the price of fruits. It hurts to buy here. haha

Then there's the tuna. In the past ten years, Canada has been getting a lot of different flavours of canned tuna. But nothing compares to Korea…

I need someone to dress me in the morning

What. Is. This!?! It's not even your average lemon&peppercorn flavoured tuna either. It's고추장 (red pepper paste), 불고기 (bulgogi) and김치찌개 (kimchi stew). Really? On top of that, the sizes of cans were kind of mixed up, and then there were the different packs. Some in threes some in fours… I spent at least five minutes looking through this trying to decide.

I did find a glorious selection of snacks though. Appreciated this more than all the tuna. I couldn't even comprehend it. Why aren't Koreans bigger? haha I need to get a picture of the rows of snacks in this store. Corn chips are my new best friend. They actually taste like corn. Imagine that. The flavours of chips here are beautiful; chicken leg flavour, shrimp flavour and onions. I know onions aren't so different, but I'm not talking the sour cream & onion kind of onion. I'm talking onion as in chop-up-and-cry onion. And just that too. Nothing else to go with it. Anywho, this is one of the snacks that I bought.

The lady said it had cream inside, and I imagined something like Jos. Louis. Nope. It's pretty much the same thing as marshmallows. w/e still good.

KIWI PROBLEM SOLVED!!

Few days after we went shopping, Eun went back with Daphne. Not only did she get a refund on the kiwis, but a bag of oranges too!! May not seem like a big deal, but as I already said, fruits are so expensive here. So yes, it’s a big deal.

…but then I buy and see how pretty it is. Too scared to mess it up. But hey, I have this plain white case for my camera now. Not personal enough for me so I decided to use some of the crystals I bought originally for the camera. Real Swarovski Crystals, ss16 in Sapphire. (If I'm ever silly enough to get married, I want sapphire ring. Diamonds are so ugly.)

Here's the case now...

My brother says I ruined it, but I like it.

I was so into blinging things out that I took my new MK beauty case and made it pretty too. See before picture here.

3.05.2013

Classes began for me today, but not so interesting. Many students, and even some teachers, had another day of orientation, so at first just me and one other student. My teacher (선생님) was one of the ones who was at orientation so I was in the next room for the day. But both me and the other student are in the same class, so no show for our temporary teacher. It wasn't until after first break that three more students came to class.

So the day is set up that we have one teacher for the first half and then someone else comes in for second half. Our first temporary teacher went super slow with teaching Hangul. I was actually close to tears cause I don't know why I have to do all this again. I felt like all the hard work I put into studying Korean had gone to waste. She was really nice, but I couldn't stand having to go over the basic vowels again for two hours. Then our next teacher came and taught complex vowels (diphthongs). She went much faster and I was very relieved, but still wasn't impressed with all this reviewing.

After my class was done I went to lunch with Daphne and one of her classmates, Max. We went to my favourite place. Yes, I already have a favourite place to eat. The ladies who work there love me. Who wouldn't right?

Then I went to the book store with Daphne to pick up my books. I'd like to take this moment to point out that my text and workbook cost a grand total of 34,000₩ ($32.02CAD). What are you on Canada? After that I spotted the Global Centre and we decided to check it out. Very quiet place to study. A must at the beginning of any school year. I went to look through the textbook topics and was slightly disappointed. I feel like the topics covered in the book could be done easily in two months, but as far as I know we're just doing one book. I went back to the book store to see what's in the second book and I'm clearly not ready for that, so I'm stuck. Here's to hoping that tomorrow we power through all the consonants and move on to more challenging things. Also hope my real teachers are as good as the two we had today.

3.03.2013

After Daphne (my roommate) and I got settled, we went to bed. Thankfully I got plenty of rest. I am convinced that this whole jetlag thing is a myth. Either that or I'm immune. I feel fine, but that might have something to do with the fact that I have terrible sleep patterns in Canada. So that's ok.

Thursday February 28th 2013

Before we went to orientation, we went into the 711 and I made my first purchase in Korea!! It was just two boxed orange juice, a.k.a breakfast. Orientation began at nine in the morning. We had to ask someone where the building is. I couldn't remember what the name of the building was called, so we had to use the English name. No luck. But I finally remembered and the man told us how to get there.

Lots of students in the lecture room when we arrived. Got our admission certificates, found out how to pay for dorm and took a lot of notes on all the other dry admin stuff. >< But it wasn't so bad. Still in honeymoon phase and I am okay with whatever. Then we got introduced to our buddy, MinSeon. (I say we so much cause Daphne and I have the same buddy and we've done a lot together.) But we didn't meet our real buddy, Sooin, until later cause she hadn't arrived yet. Then everyone went out to take a group picture in front of main building I think it was. I'll post it here when they post it. And then off we were for lunch.

Second part of orientation we had some more admin stuff and we got a much anticipated presentation from the group that organises many events/outings for the Korean students to be involved with international/exchange students. Makes me feel so welcome. haha At MUN, we have a buddy program but I didn't know they had that here, cause you have to sign up for this at my school. But at KHU, it’s automatic. Everyone gets a buddy. Pleasant surprise. And it is student-run from what I can tell. Final of the presentations was from someone who works at the Seoul Global *Centre. Seems like a great resource for foreigners.

*It’s actually 'center' but I'm too Canadian for that. Haha

After all of that, everyone went on a campus tour, but the group was too big so I could never hear where we were. But I guess it doesn't matter since I just need to know where my class is and library and bank.

I'm so excited for this school year. In my first semester I only have to worry about studying Korean. Four hours a day plus living amongst people who speak it. My understanding will undoubtedly surpass my Japanese. That's a little sad but it's not so easy when you don't have people to practice with. But I have actually already had a chance to practice Japanese on my way to placement test. I met someone on the way and we spoke in Japanese. She told me that my pronunciation is very good. Whut Whut!! Haha

3.01.2013

I didn't sleep at all cause I had so much to do still before I could leave. Filling out application forms, scanning & printing documents and blogging all night. But this was ok, cause I knew that if I was really tired for the plane ride I would sleep for a little at least. I was freaking out on the ride to the airport. Before this, my longest flight was four hours. To go to Korea, it was five hours to Vancouver and then 11½ to Incheon. ಠ_ಠ Not ok. So in the car I'm stressing and my body starts to have these pains. The same ones that I get when I'm flying, and I'm like to myself “You are the cause of these painful plane rides!!” It's never the plane that’s the problem. I stress myself out so much that I am in physical pain. So there’s that.

I got to the airport early and everything went smoothly. I had already got my boarding pass in the night, so I just had to print my bag tag and drop it off. So simple, I should do more often. (My bag was 50lb on the dot!!) But then I asked about registering my electronics and the woman said that I'll have to do that when I get to Vancuver.

Security then wait. Still panicking as I wait to board. Then when we're on the plane, still had to wait for so long before takeoff. We left a half hour late, but I wasn't worried about missing the next plane cause there was still one more plane going from YYZ to YVR to ICN. The first two hours of this flight were awful. Every bump I think we're going to die. I kept asking myself what I was thinking going half way around the world. And I remembered the conversation I had with my brother, sister and dad the other day that if something should happen to me, not to let the media take a bad picture of me to display. Give them a respectable picture for people to see. So I'm going through all the pictures in my head wondering which one they'll pick. But then I fall asleep. And I wake up to this maybe 30min later…

wtf I never take plane pictures

but so beautiful

these photos do no justice

The rest of the plane ride was very calm for me, and I had the smoothest landing ever. Then I arrive in Vancouver and the only check I have is a man to look at my boarding pass. That’s it. I'm about to fly internationally and this is it for check. I know I already went through security in YYZ but I figured there would be more to it. So I see someone and ask about registering my electronics and she told me to check with my airline. I can tell that this is not going to work out. So I wait until I see someone at the stand for my gate. When I ask him he said that I should have done it before, and I told him that I was told to do this in Vancouver. And he says that I'm not going to have enough time, but not to worry as long as they are not new. Not worry!?! I've heard horror stories of people who get taxed on things they already owned before. I'm not going to make my stuff look purposely old either so they don't question me. What are my alternatives? The only thing I'm really worried about is my new camera though. Maybe I shouldn't worry. I have always had an easy time with airports. Just don't look suspicious right?

Ok so now to board the plane for Korea. The plane ride was supposed to be 11½ hours but the pilot said the winds are in our favour, and should only take 10h 43min. This is good news cause if I get to ICN by 3:10 I could get 4pm airport pickup instead of waiting until 8pm. But of course, we must leave late again. What's your excuse? Everyone's on board. So we leave and I start off calm. Continuation from last flight. But then we keep hitting turbulence and at one point we do again and the pilot (maybe flight attendant) says that this will continue for 10min. Excuse you? So that's no fun. But I survive. I used air plane washroom for the first time. No way I could have avoided it. Not a pleasant experience. I also watched some movies. First, Pitch Perfect. meh Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. better Then Hotel Transylvania. cute Also I listened to Rachael Macfarlane's album on repeat for a while. And last part of trip, I listened to my Queen, Sarah Vaughan.

The meals were ok. I always got first because I requested special meal. The first was some mustard chicken thing. But then I realised that my meal was not only lactose free, but gluten free too. Why? I think I did that cause I can't only get lactose free meal. Or maybe they messed this up. So I ate some really dry dinner rolls with sunflower seeds baked in. then second meal was some Cajun chicken. Air Canada missed the ball on that one. About two hours left for the flight, the flight attendants hand out cup noodles. Cause you know, we're going to Asia. -__- Just stop.

We landed after 4 I think. No chance for the 4pm pick up. Ah well. To go to baggage claim, a train takes you part of the way. I got through immigration and customs or whatever pretty quickly. But as I was to exit through to the terminal, a man who worked there stopped me and asked if I was with the army. The American army. Please don't insult me. Go watch The Invisible War and ask me that again. So I wait in the airport, eat a sandwich I bought in Vancouver and use the washroom. When I walked into the stall there's plastic covering the seat and a button saying to press before use. I press and the plastic moves so that I have fresh one now. Pretty cool. I wanted to take a video, but no.

I finally go to meeting place and wait for 40 minutes before we can leave. I'm too tired for this. But then we get to the bus and look at this…

but you saw me take my camera out, so...

Anyway, such nice welcome, but then Amy, exchange student from Japan, said something along the lines of "And now two hours to get to Kyung Hee." I'm sorry, what? This day will never end. Of course it had, cause we were already into the 27th cause of time zone differences. But still. I was so done. I eventually fell asleep on the bus. The campus was so dark when we arrived, I couldn't see a thing. But I guess I didn't care. I just wanted to shower and go to bed.